


as the sea awaits the river

by carolinecrane



Series: Trains [7]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-02
Updated: 2011-05-02
Packaged: 2017-10-18 21:50:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/193677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinecrane/pseuds/carolinecrane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Finn flexes his powers of persuasion, and Will sails down that mighty river known as Denial. Set during chapter 20 of Trains.</p>
            </blockquote>





	as the sea awaits the river

Finn found Schue in the Spanish classroom right before Glee. The last of his students were gone, and Schue was standing behind his desk stuffing papers into his briefcase. Finn edged his way into the room, hands in his pockets and when Schue didn’t look up and see him, he cleared his throat. Schue did look up then, his smile kind of freezing on his face and his eyes going a little wide at the sight of Finn.

“Finn,” Schue said, and usually Finn liked the way Schue said his name, but this time he made it sound like it was the last name he wanted to be saying. It shouldn’t have bothered Finn, but it kind of did, mostly because that was the way Schue had been looking at him ever since their...well, their kind of date.

Not that he’d seen much of Schue since then; just in Spanish class second period, and a couple times in the hall during the day. But every time Schue looked at him he had that same expression on his face, like he was waiting for Finn to jump him or something.

The thought did weird things to Finn’s stomach, so he ignored it and glanced over his shoulder to make sure nobody was hanging around outside the door. “I...uh...I need to ask you something, Mr. Schue.”

“Okay,” Schue said, and now he sounded as nervous as he looked.

Which was just lame, because when they were in Toledo he wasn’t nervous at all. In fact, he seemed pretty relaxed the whole time, even when he was complaining about Finn making him eat greasy burgers and fries. He’d joked around with Finn the whole way home, singing along to some goofy 80s station he found, and Finn thought they’d had a pretty good time together. He definitely hadn’t expected it to be weird when they got back to school, but he must have missed something, because it seemed like Mr. Schue didn’t even want to look at him.

He glanced toward the door again, then he decided it was probably better just to be safe, so he closed it before he turned to look at Schue again. When he did Schue was watching him, leaning against his desk with his arms crossed over his chest and wearing that teacher look he got sometimes when he thought somebody in Glee was in some kind of trouble.

“Look, you can say no or ignore me or whatever,” Finn said as soon as the door was closed. “I mean, I know it’s wrong and it’s totally against the rules and if anybody found out you could probably get in trouble. But nobody’s getting hurt or anything, right? Everybody’s over eighteen and school’s almost over anyway, so what’s the harm?”

“Finn, I...” Schue said, face red and he kind of looked like he was thinking about swallowing his own tongue or something.

It was a little scary, to be honest, and Finn took a couple steps toward him before he even realized he was moving. When Schue backed away from him he stopped, frowning for a second before he started talking again.

“It’s just that Puck’s mom isn’t really being that cool about him and Kurt. Maybe that’s just an excuse to get naked some more, I don’t know, but Kurt’s...well, he’s mostly my brother, and he seemed to think you’d take it better coming from me, for some reason.”

And now Schue just looked confused, but Finn figured that was better than nervous, at least.

“I’m sorry?”

He wasn’t sure what Schue had to be sorry for, but Finn started over anyway, because he figured that was the smartest thing to do. The truth was _he_ was kind of confused now, and usually when he felt like that Schue was the one who helped him understand whatever he wasn’t getting.

“Kurt and Puck are bailing on Glee to go back to Puck’s house,” Finn said, his cheeks heating up at the thought of what they were probably already doing. “They were kind of hoping you’d give them a break, seeing as Nationals are over and all, and not report them for skipping.”

“This is about Kurt and Puck?” Schue said, leaning hard against his desk again, like maybe he was afraid to try to stand up.

“Yeah,” Finn answered, shrugging and taking another step forward. “Who’d you think I was talking about?”

“Nobody. It’s not important,” Schue said, shaking his head and closing his eyes for a second, and Finn felt a funny pull at the base of his stomach. “Look, Finn, skipping school is a serious offense. I can’t...”

“I know,” Finn interrupted, flashing what he hoped was a sincere smile. “But it’s like you said in Vegas, remember? About newlyweds and naked. They don’t get a lot of time alone since they’re both still living at home, and I think Kurt’s scared that it’s going to break them up before they even get to move in together. I mean, it’s not...Puck’s crazy about him, anybody can see that. But what’s it going to hurt to let them have one Glee practice, right?”

He paused, grinning hopefully at Schue from a few feet away. From this close up it sort of looked like Schue was blushing too, but that couldn’t be right. It had to be his imagination, Finn decided, and when Schue cleared his throat and looked away Finn figured he really had imagined it.

“Look, Finn, if I let it slide this time, it can’t become a regular thing, okay? We still have a month of school to get through, and even though Nationals is behind us, we have the graduation performance to rehearse for, and who knows what else Figgins will throw at us before the end of the year.”

Finn nodded like it had anything to do with him, because they both knew Kurt was going to do exactly what he wanted no matter who said otherwise. “I hear you, Mr. Schue. Totally a one-time thing. It won’t happen again.”

For a second Schue just looked at him, and Finn couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but he almost looked kind of sad. Then he kind of smiled and pushed himself off the desk, reaching down to pick up his briefcase before he took a couple steps toward Finn and reached out to grip his shoulder.

“You’re a good friend, Finn.”

Finn shrugged again, his blush spreading up his neck and all the way to his forehead this time. “So are you, Mr. Schue.”

And yeah, it kind of sounded like he was sucking up a little, but the thing was, he meant it. In a way Finn figured he’d learned a lot about being there for people from Schue; he’d always been there for Finn and everybody else in Glee, and if Finn could be half the guy Schue was, he figured he’d be doing okay.

Schue just stood there staring at him for a few more seconds, this funny half-smile on his face and his fingers sort of kneading Finn’s shoulder. It felt pretty awesome, and Finn didn’t really want him to stop, but as soon as he thought it Schue realized what he was doing and let go.

“We should get to Glee before someone reports _us_ absent,” Schue said, smile just a little too wide to be believable as he headed for the classroom door without waiting for an answer.

Finn’s stomach did a weird little somersault, but he couldn’t say why or anything, so instead of bringing it up and seeing if Schue could explain it, he just said, “yeah, okay,” and followed Schue out the door.

The hallway was pretty much deserted by the time they headed for Glee, and Finn wasn’t sure how long they’d been standing in Schue’s classroom, but he figured they’d already missed the late bell. He followed Schue all the way to the choir room without saying anything else, but before Schue could go inside Finn reached out and closed his hand around Schue’s wrist.

“Hey, Mr. Schue,” he said when Schue turned to look at him, that nervous expression right back in place and Finn’s stomach did that thing again where it tried to remind him of everything he’d had for lunch. “I meant what I said, you know. You’re the best.”

Schue glanced down at Finn’s hand where it was still circling his wrist, then he reached out with his free hand and closed it around Finn’s. Just for a second, then he was kind of pulling Finn’s hand away from his arm, and Finn had to resist the urge to slide his fingers through Schue’s, just to see what it would feel like.

“Thanks, Finn. You’re pretty great too.”

A second later he let go and turned away, pushing open the door to the choir room and leaving Finn to stand in the hall, grinning like an idiot even though he couldn’t explain why.

~

Will did his best to avoid making eye contact with Finn during Glee rehearsal. Granted, there wasn’t much to rehearse; they already knew their graduation performance cold, and without Kurt and Puck there wasn’t much point in running through it again. So he mostly just let them relive the highlights of past performances, and by the end of the hour Will had to admit that he’d probably enjoyed the impromptu jam session as much as the kids.

Finn didn’t hang back to try to talk to him again, a fact Will was grateful for. He still couldn’t think about the look on Finn’s face when he started rambling about being over eighteen and not seeing the harm without blushing, and when Finn reached out and grabbed his wrist it was all Will could do not to show him exactly the reason Finn should be staying far away from him.

He packed up his things and headed for the teachers’ lounge the minute the bell rang, scanning the room until he found Shannon talking to the school nurse in the far corner of the lounge.

“Shannon,” he called, and when she looked up at him he gave her what he hoped was a casual smile.

“What’s up?” she asked when he reached her, and Will swallowed a sigh when he realized he wasn’t exactly selling the casual look. Still, the direct approach was always best when it came to Shannon, so he took a deep breath and tried again.

“Are you free on Saturday?”

“Why?” she asked, frowning as though she thought he was up to something. And he wasn’t, or at least he was trying not to be.

He pasted on his most charming smile, the one that used to result in Terri delivering him a beer in front of the TV, back before they split up. It was the smile Holly told him women couldn’t resist, and the one that always made Emma’s eyes go so wide Will was afraid she might damage something.

“How would you like to be my date for a wedding shower?”

“Those things aren’t usually coed,” she said, nodding in the direction of the door as she talked, and Will took the hint and followed her into the hallway and toward the gym.

“Well in this case the couple’s already married. It’s for Kurt and Puck.”

As soon as he said it Will braced himself for her to start yelling, or maybe to hit him again. Instead she just shook her head and steered him into her office, and if she was going to yell, Will was grateful that at least they wouldn’t have an audience.

“Does this have something to do with Hudson?”

“No,” Will said, but as soon as she said Finn’s name Will pictured the shy, scared look on his face right before Finn _didn’t_ come onto him, and he felt his temperature rise a few degrees. “Okay, Finn did invite me, but the only reason I agreed to go is because I care about Kurt and Puck. You have a relationship with Puck, Shannon. He looks up to you. I’m sure he’d want you there.”

Shannon took a deep breath and sat down behind her desk, arms crossed over her chest and suddenly Will felt like one of her students about to get the chewing out of a lifetime and then a week’s worth of detention.

“Will, these kids are eighteen. They’re barely old enough to wipe their own noses. Do you really think it’s a good idea to encourage this marriage business?”

It wasn’t really a question of encouraging them, as far as Will could tell. They were married, and they were determined to see it through, so he didn’t see the harm in letting them know they had people in their corner.

“They’re already married, and we both know it’s not going to be easy for them. So they’ll need all the support they can get, right?”

He shrugged when she narrowed her eyes at him, flashing another smile that he’d been told often made women a little weak-kneed, but Shannon just shook her head like he was one of the dumber people she’d had to deal with that day.

“Their parents will be there,” he added when she didn’t answer right away. “Finn’s mom is planning the whole thing.”

For a few more seconds she just looked at him, but just when Will thought she might tell him he was an idiot and try to give him detention after all, she let out a deep breath and leaned forward in her chair.

“Fine, I’ll go with you. But only to keep you from doing something moronic with Hudson. What is with you two, anyway? If the kid’s got a crush or something, you shouldn’t be encouraging it.”

“Finn doesn’t have a crush on me,” Will said, but his heart was beating too loud for him to hear his own voice, so he couldn’t tell whether or not he sounded convincing. “Come on, Shannon, you know him. You know _me_. There’s nothing going on. It’s just that we’ve been through a lot together; all of us. Finn’s no different from the rest of the Glee kids.”

She didn’t look like she believed him, and Will couldn’t blame her, because that definitely wasn’t the truth. But it wasn’t like Will was going to do anything about it, so the truth didn’t really matter.


End file.
